


End of a Pitiful Rope - Prompt Fill

by hestherewithme



Series: Collection of Random Crisscolfer Drabbles. [13]
Category: Glee, Glee RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-15
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-25 11:19:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2619869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hestherewithme/pseuds/hestherewithme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt #93 from daily-crisscolfer-prompts.tumblr.com</p><p>Darren and Chris get into a fight one night after Darren lies about something. Chris says that he wishes Darren would just stop lying. Darren wakes up the next day unable to lie. </p><p>He has a live interview that day. </p><p>Note:</p><p>Based off 'Liar Liar'.</p><p>A little more angsty than I originally intended. Sorry for that. ~3,200 words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	End of a Pitiful Rope - Prompt Fill

“I was going to tell you. Really. I just…I just forgot.” Darren said meekly. 

“Is it like the time where you  _forgot_ to tell me that you weren’t allowed to see me for a week? What about when you  _forgot_  to share the absolute hell your agent put you through? And the plans for your schedule, do they just plan those without you?” Chris claimed, a little louder than Darren expected from him. 

 

“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds like I was doing it on purpose. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Chris sighed loudly, and it sounded like he wanted to end this argument. But he still had some things left to say. 

“You know what’s interesting? I can tell when you’re lying. It’s crazy, but I know exactly when you mean something, and when you don’t. Your eyes, your tone, your posture. I know.” Chris angrily insisted. “It’s got to stop Darren. It’s not protecting me from bullshit if I’m still getting hurt. And I am.”

“I’m not…I could never hurt you. I wouldn’t ever do that.” Darren apologized.

He meant that. Of course he did. Chris being unhappy was the worst thing in the world, but the notion that he was the cause of it, that was a torturous blow. 

He tried to reach out to Chris, who imperceptibly turned away from him. That fucking stung. 

“I’m gonna go to bed. It’s been an exhausting day.” Chris said, pinching the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb to relieve his obvious headache. “I just wish…that for one day, you could try and be completely honest.”

“Chris. Look…I’m sorry.” Darren said out loud before Chris could close their bedroom door. 

He supposed the couch looked pretty comfortable for tonight. 

The next morning he woke up to the smell of maple syrup. And the weirdest feeling that he gained 20 pounds, but there was a certain house pet to be blamed for the latter sensation. The first one was all his lover’s work. 

“Chris?” Darren said, walking into the kitchen, running his hands to try and tame his curls. 

“Morning.” Chris replied, glancing at him with a pout. “I wanted to make-up for yesterday. I know how tough it is to handle sometimes, and how shitty it gets. Sometimes I’m an ass.”

Darren widened his eyes in response and grinned. He rarely ever got out of arguments this easily. Right now the best possible course of action would be to nod and get a little more out of this morning than just pancakes. 

Before he could do that however, he suddenly jerked into an upright position and said “No. I shouldn’t have lied. Making you apologize right now would not only be wrong, but I’d be taking advantage of your guilt. I’m the one who’s actually sorry.” 

As soon as he finished uttering those words, he looked down at himself wondering what the hell just happened. Chris seemed to be thinking the same thing because he was his expression was one of shock and confusion. 

“Uhh. Dare? You alright?” 

He started out with a “Ye…” that immediately turned into a “No. No I slept on the couch which I’ve always hated and now there’s a crick in my neck that wont come out for at least a month and the cat really needs to lose some weight because I’m pretty sure I have intestinal hemorrhaging.”

“What the hell has gotten into you?” Chris demanded.

“I have no idea.” Finally. What he meant to say actually did come out of his mouth. How did that happen?

“Right. I’m gonna continue with breakfast. And you should probably sit down.”

Darren decided that staying quiet was the most uncomplicated thing to do currently, so he followed Chris’ instructions and took a seat on the nearby table. 

“Arghh. Where are the chocolate chips? Do you think I ate them again?” Chris asked. 

Darren winced and tried to keep his mouth shut, but couldn’t help it. 

“I ate them.”

“What? I thought you said I was the one who was eating them. You know, while sleepwalking?”

Darren pursed his lips and shook his head furiously. When he opened his mouth, the truth poured out. “Nope. Nope. It was me. I usually eat them at night when you fall asleep before me so I could pin it on you later. Please don’t hate me.”

Chris stared at him with pure astonishment, and then burst out laughing. “Oh my god. What’s gotten into you? You’re taking what I said yesterday about the lying too seriously.” 

Chris began smiling and put set the pancake stack aside so he could walk up to Darren and give him a kiss on his head. “I could never hate you. That’s impossible. Even if you ate all the chocolate chips in the world. I’d take the blame for you.”

Darren looked up right at Chris, and without hesitation said. “I love you.” There it was again. No sudden jerking or outburst of things he didn’t want said. 

And that’s when he figured out what was going on. He meant that. He loved Chris. Without doubt, without question, not even a second thought. He loved him so much. And it was the absolute truth.

 And when he tried to say anything that contradicted the truth, he could feel the words force themselves back into his mouth, refusing to enter the world. 

“I love you too.” Chris said easily. “So. Do you have anything special planned for today? I thought we could stay in the house all day. And by house I mean our room specifically.” Chris asked cheekily.

Under normal circumstances Darren would have nodded frantically at whatever Chris suggested, not even remembering any other commitments let alone need to lie about them. But today didn’t seem to fall under the normal category. 

“I have this thing.”

“A thing?” 

“Another interview. Big one. You know the type. Where who I screw is more important than my career.”

“Oh.” Chris responded, suddenly downcast. “I…I didn’t know.”

“I should have told you. But I think I’d have to cancel. I’m not feel…” 

The sentence stopped there. He was feeling perfectly fine, except when he tried to avoid the truth. 

He tried to change his wording into something that wasn’t a lie. “I’m not myself today?” he tried.

“Are you asking me that. Because the answer is definitely yes.”

Darren sighed. He had no idea how he could possibly explain it to Chris. He wasn’t exactly sure what “it” even was. 

“I’ll just call and tell them I can’t make it today.” Darren stated.

“O-okay then, good luck trying to convince those stubborn jackasses of anything they don’t wanna do.” Chris said rolling his eyes. 

Darren huffed in annoyance and speed-dialed his intended contact. 

“What is it now?” came the bored voice on the other end. 

“Hey. Uhmm. I don’t think I’m gonna be able to do the interview today.” Darren said slowly, hoping not to literally choke on his own words. 

“What! Why not?”

“Something’s come up. I…“ he began before he was rudely interrupted.

Darren comically pulled the phone away from his ear, and even Chris could hear the yelling on the other side. 

“I’ll. You know what. I’ll show you. I’ll meet you at the studio an hour before and you’ll understand.” Darren sighed. 

“What crawled up his ass?” Chris asked sarcastically.

Darren shook his head and told Chris he’d see him in a few hours. Unless he managed to get himself strangled by then. 

“You’re late.” 

Those were the first words he heard when Darren closed his car door shut.

“I need to talk to you. It’s important.” he paused before he began his excuse “This interview, I wont be able to lie.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I can’t do it. I keep choking up.”

“If this is some guilt-tripping bullshit you better just stop it right now. Do you know how many strings I pulled and asses I kissed to get you this interview?”

Darren clenched his jaw, and tried again.

“It’s not like I’m controlling this. I cannot lie. I physically cannot.”

“You’re a fucking actor. It’s your job to lie.”

“Ask me something.”

“How the hell is that going to prove anything?” he challenged.

He was right. Darren realized there wasn’t a way to explain the craziness that was surrounding him today.

“You’re a good actor, Darren. You can do this. Just go in there, and say the same lines we rehearsed a thousand times. You know it’s all the same.”

Darren didn’t think there were enough groans and sighs in the world that could get him out of this predicament. 

“It’s gonna be a fucking disaster.” Darren muttered, then gasped. The fact that he didn’t hesitate scared him for a second. Was he saying that because it was the inevitable truth? Or because he so firmly believed that all this was not going to end well for anyone. 

He wanted to talk to someone, anyone, who would understand him. And there was one person who would. One man who accepted all of him, his flaws, his inadequacies and his bullshit. One perfect man who Darren could not believe had been gifted to him. 

And it was that same man, Darren realized, who must have made this all happen. His mind drifted back to the last thing Chris said to him the previous night. 

_‘I just wish that for one day, you could be completely honest.’_

“Goddammit. He did this.” he said to himself. 

Darren began to feel a slight rise of anger, but it was immediately shut down by another train of thought. This time he kept his contemplation within his brain. 

“ _No. No, I did this. I did this to him, to make him even want to wish such a thing. I’m a shitty boyfriend and I deserve this. Whatever’s coming_.” he thought. 

“Darren, you’re headed to make-up and mic fitting in ten.” his agent informed him. 

“Yeah. I…I have to make a call first.”

He didn’t know how this was going to go. He didn’t know what he was about to say about what was going on with, let alone be ready to explain it to Chris in less than nine minutes through a phone call. 

“Hey. You done early?” Chris’ sweet voice travelled into his ear. He so desperately wished he wasn’t alone right now. 

“No. I…” he said with his voice cracking. “Chris I need to tell you something.”

“Dare? Is everything okay?”

“No. No it’s not. You were right. I needed to be more honest. I need to be…more honest. I shouldn’t have. It’s not fair, or right.”

“Darren, what are you saying? Listen to yourself.”

“I am. For the first time in a long time, I am. And the shittiest part of all this is, the person I was most dishonest with, was myself. The most awful thing I can imagine happening to me is seeing you in pain.” 

Darren stopped there just so he could catch his breath and tried to keep himself together.   
  
“And I thought it was just me getting screwed in this process, I didn’t think of how much it affected you. I get it now. Seeing me go through this, that hurt you more than anything. And I’m so sorry.”

He heard sniffles, but before he could say any words of comfort, he heard “You asshole.”

“What?” he asked incredulously.

“You are the biggest asshole in the world and I love you so much.”

Darren grinned. This truth thing was really working out for him. 

“I love you too.”

“So have you cancelled the interview?”

“Nope.”

“What?” Chris exclaimed. “Why the hell not, you just said you wanted to be more honest and…” Chris trailed off, perhaps only now understanding the real significance of what Darren was about to do. “Dare? Are you sure.”

“Not at all. In fact, I’m fucking terrified. But I can’t help it today.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Just…I’ll be home soon. And if I’m not, you start checking all the local ditches and rivers for the sign of a five foot seven garbage bag, okay.”

“Don’t even joke about that. And this is me speculating, but you probably haven’t mentioned anything to him yet, have you?”

“I..” 

“WHAT PART OF TEN MINUTES DID NOT PASS THROUGH YOUR SKULL!” 

Darren’s phone was snatched from him furiously and he was shuffled into a hair and makeup room, almost blinded by the lights. Oh how easy it was to cover up shit backstage. 

The interview was pretty basic, he focused his gaze on the audience rather than the interviewer, because they seemed much more welcoming than she did.

_Holy shit here we go._

“Everybody put your hands together for Darren Criss.” she began, quickly followed by a short round of applause. It seemed everyone was more interested in hearing what Darren had to say. They were about to get a much bigger show than they paid for. 

“So. How are you? How’s your life?” she started to get him comfortable. 

“Umm. My life. It has it’s ups and downs, like everyone’s. But at the end of the day, I’m always happy.” he said, thinking of Chris. 

“I wouldn’t doubt that based on your success with the whole music and acting thing.”

He chuckled nervously, hoping to communicate through actions rather than words. But that didn’t work out too well. Halfway through a nod his head started to shake from left to right, as if he intensely disagreed with what she had just said. 

She backed away slightly in fear of his sudden vigorous action, and falteringly asked “No?”

Darren gritted his teeth and burst out “No. I…I just don’t want anyone to think that my ultimate happiness is based off of my success or anything like that.”

She must have seen the panic in his eyes, and understood that she should stop there. Or someone had spoken into her earpiece to get away from the topic. 

Regardless, she managed to save him there by saying “That’s nice. Modesty is very important in celebrities, don’t you think?” but this time she directed the question at the audience. 

An assortment of positive responses came from them, and they seemed to be pleased with how that played out. She rambled on with that idea for a while, and asked him a little about his roots and beginnings before he came into show business. Darren liked those questions. Those were always easy to answer. 

“So. I’ve been meaning to ask you…”

_‘Oh no. Here it comes.’_ he mentally prepared himself. 

“One of your most famous roles was one of a gay man, but you are not.”

He didn’t say anything for a while. He could feel his legs shaking and that tense spot on his right shoulder began to ache, the way it always did when he was under pressure. 

“Where’s the question in that?” he said, hoping to ease the tension he brought with those few moments of silence. 

She laughed, but there was no joy in that laugh. Instead, she narrowed her eyes in annoyance. He was supposed to say a specific set of words. He’d rehearsed this, but Darren knew there was no way those words were coming out of his mouth today. 

“Alright. Let me rephrase. You played a gay character but you are a straight man, is that correct?”

Darren was pretty sure he stopped breathing for a while. Looking backstage he caught his agent’s angry stare which seemed to be charging up enough energy to shoot lasers at him.

“Well I have played a gay character, that is true.” he said, hoping she would get the message. 

But she was relentless right now, sticking to her end of the bargain. 

“And what about the other half of my question?” she pressed. “You  **are** straight?”

Darren pursed his lips and held in his breath hoping for the easy way out; fainting. She was obviously disturbed with his behavior, raising her eyebrows in bemusement. Everyone was waiting for his answer. 

He gripped his knees with both hands and slowly exhaled. “I’m not.”

For a moment there was complete silence. Nobody said a word. The interviewer lady, he really should have bothered to learn her name, looked at him as if he’d written his own death sentence. He most likely did. 

He was pretty sure his agent had just pulled out a clump of hair out of the side of his head. Producers behind the stage were cutting to break, and most of the crowd was exchanging whispers with each other. Many had their phones taken out, some were giving him looks of disdain, but most were just gaping at him. 

All he could remember after that was a lot of people yelling at him, but he had remained silent. He didn’t have anything else to say. 

When he got home that night, he felt lighter. What he had been through today, he believed it happened for a reason. That it was meant to happen. Whether there was some weird psychological mishap or inexplicable supernatural cause, he didn’t care. 

He hadn’t said a word out loud for hours, not since answering that last question in the interview. He didn’t mind if he would never lie again. Of course there would be issues with answering questions like ‘how was your day’, or ‘how do I look?’, ‘did you have a second serving of my pea soup?’, but those were minor issues. 

He entered into the warmth of home, a comfort and sense of belonging that he couldn’t find anywhere else. He knew this was not due to a place, but rather a person. Chris was looking at him with an expression that was a mixture of both pride and love. He held his arms out, inviting Darren to an embrace that had the power to take away any and all of worries of his.

“Why now? Why today?” Chris asked softly, holding him tight. 

“I couldn’t help it. I had to say the truth today.”

“You had to say the truth?”

“Yes.”

“Alrighty then.” Chris said, satisfied with just that as his explanation. 

“Can I try something?”

“What?”

“I fucking hate  _Minute Maid_ apple juice.” he said quickly, and whooped in delight right after that. 

“What? I thought you loved that?”

“I do. I was just testing…you know what? It doesn’t matter.”

“It’s not like anything was forcing you to tell the truth. You did that because you wanted to, right?”

“To be completely honest, yes. Yes I did.”


End file.
